How to Get Rid of a Ghost in Your House (& Signs Your House is Haunted)

• Signs you’ve got a ghost on your hands include smelling or hearing unexplainable things, your electricity cutting out, or just sensing that a ghost is nearby.
• Get rid of a ghost by asking it directly to leave you alone, and then cleanse your home of any negative energies by lighting white candles and burning lavender incense.
• Prevent further paranormal activity by making a salt circle around your house and setting out protective crystals, like howlite, tourmaline, and agate.

How to Get Rid of a Ghost

Cleanse your house. Open your windows to let in some fresh air and sunlight, and burn lavender or sage incense to infuse your home with a fresh, lively scent. Deep-cleaning your house can exorcise any paranormal energies lurking there. A clean, fresh-smelling house is also a major mood-booster, and our own positive vibes may help eliminate any negative ones. Light white candles anywhere you’ve sensed paranormal activity: this will help fight any negative energies as well.

Protect your space. Once you’ve banished your ghost and cleansed your home of any negative vibes, it’s important to set up spiritual barriers to prevent any new paranormal entities from entering. You can protect your space with specific stones—but if you’ve got to order them online, you can get a jumpstart on shielding your house using plain old table salt. Create a ring of salt around your house to protect it from spirits entering. Any spirit, good or…not good, who wants to enter your house will be unable to cross the salt barrier. Set howlite and tourmaline around your house to protect you from negative spiritual energy. Putting agate by your bedside may help you have sweeter dreams.

Tell the ghost to leave you alone. It may sound obvious, but sometimes the most direct approach is the most helpful. Your ghost may not realize it’s an unwelcome presence in your home, so telling it (politely) to leave may be effective. Next time you feel the ghost’s presence, say something like, “Please leave.” If your ghost is really bugging you, be a bit more forceful: “You’re not welcome here. I command you to go.”

Ignore them. Some ghosts just want attention (don’t we all?). If you tend to react to creaking floorboards or unexplained whispers with, “Who’s there?” your ghost may feel encouraged to continue their behavior. Pretending it doesn’t bother you may send the message to your ghost that they should give it up. Even if you're terrified of ghosts, "faking it 'til you make it" may help you become less afraid of your ghost over time.

Signs You’re Dealing with a Ghost

You just…feel it. Whether your house gives you goosebumps or you just get the sensation you’re not alone, paranormal entities often communicate their presence through vibes. Trust your intuition here: if you feel like something’s up, it very well might be. At the same time, if you’ve been reading a lot of Stephen King lately, you may be primed to sense paranormal presences! If you share your living space with someone, check to make sure they’re not at home next time you sense you’re not alone. Your “ghost” could just be, like, your dad.

You’re picking up odd smells. If you can’t rely on vibes alone, follow your nose. Ghosts and other paranormal entities famously present as unusual scents, from the foul (like sulfur or rotting meat) to the more cheery (like roses). We’ve got to say it: make sure you didn’t lose a boiled egg behind the fridge last Easter or that someone didn’t accidentally spill their perfume on the rug. If you’re smelling something unexpected, make sure it doesn’t have a normal source before assuming it’s paranormal. Sinus infections, upper respiratory infections, aging, certain meds, and other causes could also contribute to phantosmia, a.k.a. olfactory hallucinations, a.k.a. imaginary smells, so make sure your nose is in tip-top shape before turning to ghosts. Better yet, see if anyone else can smell what you’re smelling.

You keep hearing strange sounds. Whether it’s whispers in the dark or mysterious creaks and thuds, unexplained or unexpected noises are a classic sign of paranormal activity. It might be a spirit trying to talk to you, or your house may be host to a residual haunting—that is, when a ghost relives an event from their life over and over again (like in that one episode of Buffy). Sometimes places can hold onto the energy from past events, so try Googling your address to see if anything comes up about past residents or events that occurred that might be contributing to a residual haunting.

Your electricity keeps cutting out. Many people who have reportedly dealt with ghosts say the ghosts communicated their presence by messing with the electricity. Think lights flickering or the TV going fuzzy or shutting off. Of course, rule out issues with your electrical wiring first, for your own safety! Get an electrician to check on things, and if they can’t determine the cause of your electrical troubles, then it might just be paranormal.

The temperature drops unexpectedly. Maybe there’s a particular room in your house that’s always inexplicably frigid, or the temperature unexpectedly plunges at random times. Many people cite cold temps as a sign that ghosts are near. Know that your body responds to fear similarly to how it responds to cold temps, so if you’ve got goosebumps or can’t stop shivering, it may not be a ghost—just your fear of ghosts.

You saw…something out of the corner of your eye. This is what’s known as a peripheral ghost sighting. When you think you see someone out of the corner of your eye or disappearing through a far-off doorway as you enter a room, it could be your ghost guest.

Your pets are acting weird. Your usually chill dog won’t stop barking at nothing. Your cat hisses at imaginary threats. Is it a fluke? Are there mice in your walls setting your pets on edge? Or are you being visited by beings only your furry friends can detect?

You lose things…only to find them in unexpected places. It’s almost as if the thing got up and moved by itself…or was moved. Losing objects only for them to turn up in random places or places you know you didn’t put them is a big sign you could have some paranormal activity going on. If the object you keep misplacing belonged to someone who has since passed, like a relative, it may be their way of reaching out to you—or of saying they miss their stuff!

You have strange dreams. As anyone who’s ever experienced night terrors or sleep paralysis can attest, dreams can really mess with your mind. While poor sleep may just be manifestations of stress, anxiety, or fear, some people believe the strange visions you might see in the throes of sleep paralysis or in your nightmares are rooted in the paranormal.

Are ghosts always bad?

Some ghosts carry bad energy, but many don’t! Your ghost might be a friendly one, a la Casper, or it might have some bad intentions. You may be able to get a sense of which one you’ve got based on its behavior: if it keeps the disturbances to a minimum or seems to enjoy being near you, it may not be a problem, but if it’s throwing things around the house or making a lot of noise, you could have a poltergeist on your hands. Remember that as afraid as you might be of your ghost, it’s possible your ghost is far more scared of you. They may not be alive, but they are (or were) people, just like you.